Rear-axle transmission mechanism.



H. PLEUKHARP. REARY AXLE TRNSMISSIQN MECHANISM.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT. 4| 1915- l Patented Dec. 19, 3916 3 SHEETS-SHEETl.

EQ/aie S. H, PLEUKHAHP.

HEAR AXLE TRANSMISSION MECHAMSM.

APPLiCATiON FILED SEPT. 4, 1.3M?.

3 SHEU SHSHEET 2.

II H. PLEUKHARP HEAR AXLE TRANSMISSION MECHANISIVI. APPLICATION FILEDSEPT. 4, |915.

Izlenfed Dec. 19, 1916.

IRVIN PLEUKHARP, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

REABLAXLE TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

recesso.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedDec. 19, 1916.

Application led September 4, 1915. Serial No.48,964.

' To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, IRviN H. PLEUKHARP, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Columbus, in the -county ofFranklin and 'State of Ohio, haveinvented a new and useful Rear-Axle rlransmission Mechanism, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates tot-ransinission gear ing andinore particularly toa form of variable -speed gearing designed for use on motor vehicles.

- The object of the invention is to provide a gearing ofthis descriptionadapted for mounting on the rear axle of a motor vehicle or on thejack-shaft if the vehicle be chaindriven. l

Among the advantages of my invention the following may be enumerated: 1.rl`lie highest possible efficiency of transmission, due to the use ofdirect drives at two different speeds; 2. The use of a semi-direct orsingle-reduction drive on one additional speed.

The maner in which the foregoing advan-l tages are obtained by myinvention 'will be understood from the following description. ofafspecific embodiment` thereof. In this description reference will behad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figurel is a horizontalsectional view through the central portion of a rear axle having` myimproved transmission gearing applied thereto, the gearing shown in thisfigure being of the progressive type; Fig.

2 isfan enlarged horizontal 'sectional view through the gear box,showing the gearing arranged for the selective type of control; Fig. 3is a transverse section through the gear box, showing the reversepinion; 40

and Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevation of the control block for the reverseand first speed gears,

'Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral `10 designatesa rear axle housing of conventional form and having in its centralportion apertures 11 and 12. The

rear axle shafts 13 are mounted withintlie housing member 1 0 in theusual manner and connected at their inner ends to a standarddifferential gearing generally designated by 14. This differentialgearing is carried in bearings which may be mounted in a gear boxsection 15, secured in place on the front face of the axle 10 and overthe aperture 12 therein. This method of constructing and arranging the.parts is well understood in the art and needs no further description.

The front end of the gearbox section 15 is open' and is provided with aflange by means of which a gear box proper 16 may be 6o secured.llfitliin this latter box `the elements which make up my improvedgearing are mounted. These elements comprise a driving shaft 17, drivingpinioiis 1S 'and 19 carried by the driving shaft, a combined clutch andgear 20 also carried by the driving shaft, a counter-shaft or lay-shaft21 mounted parallel to the driving-shaft, a gear 22 carried by thelay-shaft, and a pinion 23 mounted upon or formed integrally with thelay-shaft. 'In addition to the seven elements above enumerated mytransmission gearing embodies a reverse pinion 2-1 mounted below andbetween the lay-shaft and counter-shaft and arranged to be engaged withthe'gears 7S 48 and 22 thereof.

The preferred construction and arrangement of these parts` isillustrated in Fig. 1, from nliich it will be seen that the drive shaft17 enters `the front end of the gear- 80 b ox 11i, and is provided witha suitable bearing at this end. Behind the bearing 25 the shaft 17 ispreferably enlarged and formed with splines or feathers 26 with whichthe clutch member 20 has sliding en` 85 ga gement. Beyond the enlargedand splined portion 26 the shaft 17 is further reducedv and lcarriedforwardly through the bore of the iengthened hub or sleeve 27 of thepinion 19, and at its inner end is again reduced and mounted in abearing 28, which may be supported from the gear box section 15 as by aweb 29. The sleeve vor hub 'of the pinion member 19 has a boresuiiciently large to clear the shaft 17 and may be extended for- 95l'wardly of the pinion and 4mounted in a bearing 30 carried by the sameweb 29. The outer end of the sleeve 27 may have its boresliglitlyenlarged to receive an annular bearing 31 which lies betweenthe shaft 17 and 100 vthe sleeve 27. rl`he bearing 31 may be of anyapproved anti-friction type but since the relative motions of the pinion19 and shaft 17 are very small and occur only when there is no load uponthe former, a plain bushing will serve satisfactorily as a bearing atthis point. The outer end of the extended sleeve or liub 27 has keyedthereon a toothed clutch member 32 as by keys 33, the clutch memberbeing secured in position by a flanged collar 11@ 34, the flange ofwhich may be threaded into the counter-bored end of the sleeve-27. Theclutch member 32 has its inner end free of clutch teeth and ofsulliciently small diameter to clear a set of internal clutch teeth 35'carried by the.' clutch member 20, the outer mounted in the gear-boxhousing 16. The

outer en d of the hub 37 terminates just short of the clutch member 32and is provided with external clutch teeth 40 similar to the teeth 3G ofthe clutch member 32 and adapted for engagement with the teeth 35 whenthe clutch member 20 is properly moved to eect such engagement.

The construction of the parts as so far described is identical in theprogressive form of transmission illustrated by Fig. 1

' and in. the selective type illustrated by Fig. 2. The differencebetween these two types resides in the arrangement of the gear upon thelay-shaft 21, and in the operating means for the transmission and theform of the reverse gear 24. In the construction shown in F ig. l, thelay-shaft 21 has the pinion 23 and gear 22 fixed upon opposite endsthereof, and has its bearings 41 mounted intermediate the gear andpinion, a spacer-sleeve, such as the sleeve 42, being interposed betweenthe bearings for a well understood purpose.

In order to cooperate with the gear 22the clutch member 20 is providedwith external gear teeth 43, which are adapted to mesh with the teeth ofthe gear 22 when the clutch member isbrought to the proper position.

The means for effecting' ,the required movements of the clutch member 20is shown a control rod 44, slidable Within suitable guides carried bythe gear-box 16 and carrying a forked arm 45, the fork of whichstraddles the hub of the clutch member 2O and rides within a groove 46therein. The operating rod 44 has formed in one face thereof lfivenotches designated by the munerals47 to 51 inclusive, and to coperalewith these notches `there is provided a swing-pressed plunger 52, theconstruction being such that the rod144 may be adjusted longitudinallyas by a suitable gear shift lever (not shown) to shift the clutchmeniber 20 to any one of tive different positions, the plunger 52operating to maintain the rod and its connected clutch member in anyposition in which it may be set.

.The reverse pinion 24. as shown iii Iiig. l,

has a relatively broad face, the width of the face being sufficient topermit it to engage both the gear 22 and the gear teeth 43 of the clutchmember 20 at a time when this last named pair of elements are out ofengagement with each other, that is, when the plunger 52 is seated inthe notch 48 of the rod 44. To permit the gear- 24 to be moved into orout of engagement with the gears 22, the form of constructionillustrated by Figs. 3 and 4 is adopted. In these figures it will 'beseen that the gear 24 is carried on an arm 53 which rocks upon a shaft54 mounted in the lower portion of the gear box 16. In order to rock'thearm 53 the latter is extended beyond its pivot and the extended' endprovided with a ball surface 55, which rides within a cam slot 56 in acontrol block 57. 4 As shown in Fig. 4, the slot 56 is inclined to thehorizontal so that longitudinal movement of the block 57 will 85 lift ordepress the ball head 55, whereby the lever 53 is rocked to bringthe-pinion 24 into or out of engagement with the gears 43, 22. The slideblock 57 may be operated as by a push-rod 58 to effect the movement ofthe arm 53, this push-rod being connected to a separate gear-shift leveror interconnected with the operating means for the rod 44 in any desiredmanner.

For driving the axle shaft 13 `from the drive shaft 17 by means of thetransmission gearing above described, I provide a novel arrangement ofbevel gears, as illustrated by Fig. 1 of the drawings. This arrangemen-tconsists of a double-faced ring-gear 60,' 100 bolted or otherwisesecured to the dierential case 14, and asecond ring gear 61 of smallerdiameter than the gear 60 and mounted concentrically therewith. In theassembled position of the nai-ts, as shown by 105 Fig. 1, the larger'ring gear 60 extends between the pinions 18 and 23, meshingsimultaneously with each of these driving members. The smaller ring gear61 engages the pinion 19.

The operation of the transmission mechanism shown in Fig. 1 is asfollows: Vhen the rod 44 occupies the position in which it is shown inthis drawing, that is, with the plunger 52 engaging the notch 50, thedrive- 115 shaft 17 may rotate freely and without transn'iitting motiontoanyof the parts of the gearing, saving the clutch and gear member 20,which is splined thereon. This position of the parts may be described asa -120 neutral position. From this neutrall position the clutch member20 may be moved in two directions, z. e., either inward or outward. Ifit is moved inwardly until the notch 51 comes opposite the plunger52'the 125 internal clutch teeth 35 of thev clutch inember 20 willengage with the external" clutch teeth 40 out in the hub 37 of thepinion 18. This may be described as the high speed position of theparts. In this position the 130 13 and gear 60. -During this drivingmove 'ment the pinion 19 will, of course, be driven through itsengagement with' the ring gear 61, but will merely rotate idly upon theshaft 17, being under no load at this time. 1t will further be notedthat thisidle rotation will amount only to the difference `between thespeeds lof the shaft 17 of the L pini-0h19, whichis:determined `by therelative diameters of the pinion 18 and gear 60 on the one hand, andpinion 19 and gear 61 on the other hand. By the engagement of the pinion23 with the other face of the ring gear :60 the lay-shaft 21 will, ofcourse, also heldriven during this high speed driving v'nn'zvement,',butitwill be seen that this shaft also will turn idly in its bearings andwithout load,

It the rod 44 be pulled outwardly from the position shown in thedrawings and until the plunger 52 engages the notch 49, the clutch'member 20 will. be moved to engageits internal gear teeth 35 with theexternal gear teeth 36 ot the clutch member 32 which is keyed to the hubofthe pinion 19. This may be describedfas the intermediate or secondgear position, and in this position of the parts the drive shaft 17 isdirectly connected to the pinion 19 and through the latter drives thering gear 61 to transmit motion to the axle shafts 13. During suchintermediate driving engagement the large bevel pinion 18 will idle inits bearings as will also the lay-shaft 21, these parte being driven bythe double-faced ring gear 60. .y

1f the rod 44 be pulled outward beyond the position last described, thatis, until thev I plunger 52 engages the notch 48, the clutch member 2Owill assume its second neutral position. 1n this position the interna-lclutch teeth 35 will have passed outwardly beyond the external clutchteeth 36 of the clutch 32, while the external teeth 43 of the clutchmember 20 will occupy a position short of the gear 22 on the lay-shaft21. From this second neutral position of the clutch member 20, eitherthe iirst speed gear or the reverse gear may be meshed at a singleoperation. Thus, il the clutch member 20 be moved from its secondneutral position outwardly until the plunger 52 engages the' notch 47,the external L teethv 43 will be brought into engagement with 'the gear22 on the lay-shaft. in this, the first speed position of the parts,the. drive will be through the shaft 17 and clutch member 2O to the gear22, through the lay-shaft 21 and through the bevel pinion 23 to the ringgear -30, 'thus operating' the axle shaft 13 at a tif' speed determinedby the gear reduction between the teeth 43 of the clutch member 2O andthe gear 22, combined with the reduction between the pinion 23 and ringgear 60.' In this position of the parts'both the pinion 19 and thepinion 18 will idle in their bearings, being driven by the opposite faceof the ring gear 60 and by the ring gear 61, respectively.

Assuming that the control rod 44 has been again moved inwardly to thesecond neutral position, that is, to the position in which ythe plunger52 engages the notches 48, the reverse gear may then be brought intoposition by operating the rod 58'. In such operation the block 57 willbe pulled outwardly thus causing the ball end 55 of the-arm 53 to movefrom its upper position in the top of the slot 56 to its lower positioninthe bottom of this slot. Invthis movement the arm 53 will be tilted oroscillated to bring the reverse pinion 24 upwardly into engagement withthe teeth 43 of the clutch member 20 and the teeth oi the gear 22. Thepinion 24 then acts as an idler to reverse .the direction of rotation ina well-understood manner,and the ring gear 60 will be operated at thesame speed but in a direction oppositeto that at which it was turninglwhen the girst-speed gears were in position.

The construction illustrated in Fig. 2 dif fers'from that shown in Fig.1' in that the arrangement of the gear 22 on the lay-shaft 21 and theform and disposition of the reverse pinion, has been changed to adaptthe transmission mechanism to the selective type of control. The change,in so far as it re-v pinion 24 shown in Fig. l, in Fig. 2, a pair ofreverse pinions 65, 66, mounted on a com- 'mon shaft, are made use of.The reverse arm 53, instead of being bifurcated is provided with asingle journal 67 (Fig. 2) which carries the central portion of theshaft on which the pinions 65, 66, are mounted. lt is necessary that theslide block 57 have a somewhat greater range of movement when it is usedfor operating the sliding gear 22 than -when it operates the reverse`pinion alone, as will later appear. and for this reason it is necessaryin the construction shown in Fig. 2 to provide the reverse block with anextension slot 56 arranged horizontally and connecting with the inclinedor cam slot 56, which operates the reverse arm 53. To provide forthemovements of the sliding gear 22 ithas also been necessary in Fig.

reverse gear 65.

2 to remove the outer bearing 4l. This bearing is shown at 41 in Fig. 2,being there arranged at the outermost end of the shaft 21 and in ahollow boss 42 formed on the gear casing 16. In the construction shownin Fig. 2, the operating rod 44 for the clutch member 20 is' somewhatshorter than the rod 44 shown in Fig. 1, and carries only the threenotches 49, 50 and 51, the notches 47 and 48 being dispensed with.

yl`he operation el my improved transmission when arranged tor theselective type oit control, as illustrated in Iiig. 2, is as tollows:rI"he parts being in the position illustrated by the drawing the shifterrod 44 may be operated from its neutral position, as shown, in eitherone o l? two directions, '2'. c., inward, until the plunger engages thenotch 51, in which position the clutch 20 engages the gear 18, oroutward from the p0- sition shown, that is, to engage the plunger .52with the notch, 49, in which case the clutch member 2O enrages theclutch 32 of the hub of the pinion 19. The operation of the transmissiongears driving the axle shafts 13 from the drive shaft 17 is the same inthese two positions as was described in connection with Fig. 1. Thedifference in operation of the two forms of construction lies in themeans for bringing the first speed gear and reverse gears intooperation. Assuming that the control rod44 occupies the neutral positionshown in Fig. 2, the control rod 58 which is connected to theslide-block 57, may then be operated in either one of two directions,z'. e., inward or outward to engage the gear 22, respectively, with thegear teeth 43 of the clutch member 20, or the In 'the inward movement ofthe block 57 the ball-end 55 of the reverse arm 53 slides in thehorizontal slbt 56, the reverse gears being thus maintained in theirlower or inoperative position while the sliding gear 22 moves intoengagement with thev gear teeth 43 of the clutch member 20. When theslide or block 57 is pulled out- Wardly from the position shown in Fig.2, the sliding gear 22 and the reverse gears 65, 66, movesimultaneously, the inclined slot 56 tilting the arm 53 to swing thereverse gears upwardly during the timein which the sliding gear 22movesoutwardly' to lie over the gear 65. In the position of the partsfirst described, z'. e., with the sliding gear 22 in mesh with the teeth43 of the clutch member 20, the drive shaft 17 will operate to ro tatethe lay-shaft 21 and through the pinion 23 on the latter the ring gearG0 and the attached axle shafts 13 will be driven forwardly at lowspeed. In the last de scribed position of the parts, the gear teeth 43will drive the reverse pinion G6 and through it the pinionv 65, and thelatter will drive the gear 22 in the reverse direction` From theforegoing specification it will be understood that I have provided a'form of transmission mechanism in which the high speed and intermediatespeed driving engagement is eli'ccted through a single gear reduction,z'. e., the reduction between the bevel pinions and the ring gears. Inthe first or low speed driving position ol the parts there are two gearreductions, e., one reduction from the drive shaft to the layshatt and asecond reduction from the latter to the axle shaft through the bevelpinion and ring gear G0, respectively. The construction, furthermore,lends itself to a compact arrangement of the parts and the saving otweight as compared with any of the known transmission mechanism ofsimilar el'licienc'v is considerable.

As illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2 ot the dra v ings, my improvedransmission gearH ing may readily be arranged for either rtheprogressive or selective type of operation, as may seem best suited forthe particular conditions under which it employed, vthe inherentadvantages of the transmission mechanism being obtainabh`y as well inone form of control as in the other.

l'lfhile I have shown and l" IAl in considerable detail a specific em"louent of my invention, it is to be Underwood that this showing and d.s ription is illustrative only and 'for the purpose of rendering myinvention `more clear, and that I do not regardv the invention aslimited to the details of construction illustrated or described. nor toany ot them` except in so -l`ar as I have included such limitationswithin the terms of the following claims. in which it is my intention toclaim all novelty inherent in my invention as broadly as is possible inview of the prior art.

lVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a transmission gearing and, in combination, a driven shaft, a don..rf-faced gear .mounted thereon, a` second gear mounted concentrieallyWithsaid double-'faced gear,

` a driving shaft arranged at right angles to said driven shaft, apinion sleeved upon said driving shaft and meshing with one face of saiddouble-faced gear, a second pinion sleeved upon the hub of said firstnamed pinion and meshing with said second gear,` spaced clutch memberscarried by the said hub and second pinion respectively, a. clutch memberconnected with said driving shaft and having a clutch element lyingbetween said spaced clutch members lwhereby the driving shaltclutchelement may he moved to selectively drive either o'l said pinions, a

carried bv said driving shatt clutch vent, a lay-shaft mounted parallelto said "iving shaft, a. gear on said lay-shaft adapted to engage withthe gear on said driving sv a reverse pinion a'` opted for engagementwith both o'l. said irs when they are lll@ incasso out of engagementWith one another, and a bevel pinion carried by said lay-shaft andmeshing with the other face of the said double-faced gear.

2. ln a transmission gearing and, in coinbination, a driven shaft, adouble faced gear mounted tbeeon, asecond gear mounted concentrioallywith said double-faced gear, a driving shaft arranged at right angles tosaid driven shaft, a pinion sleeved upon said driving shaft and meshingwith one face of said double faced gear, a second pinion sleeved uponsaid driving shaft and meshing with said second gear, spaced clutchmembers carried by said pinions, a clutch member connected with saiddriving shaft and having a clutch element lying between said spacedclutch members, vvhereby thev driving shaft clutch element may be movedto selectively engage either of said pinions, a gear carried by saiddriving shaft clutch element, a lay-shaft mounted parallel to saiddriving shaft, a gear slidable on said layu shaft, and adapted to bemoved into engagement with the gear on-said clutch, and a. bevel pinioncarried byA said layshaft and meshing with the other face of saiddoublefaced gear.

3. ln a transmission gearing and, in combination, a driven shaft, adouble-faced bevel gear mounted thereon, a second bevel gear mountedconcentrically with said double faced gear, a driving' shaft arranged atright-angles to said driven shaft, a pinion Asleeved upon said drivingshaft and having engagement With one face of said doublefaced gear, asecond pinion sleeved upon said driving shaft and having engagement withthe other of said bevel gears, spaced clutch members carried by saidpinions, a. clutch member slidable on said driving shaft and having aclutch element lying between said spaced clutch members, whereby saiddriving shaft clutch element may be moved to selectively engage eitherof said pinions, a gear formed upon said driving shaft clutch element, alay-shaft parallel to said driving shaft, a. gear splined upon saidlay-shaft and adapted to be moved into or out of en gagement with thegear formed on said clutch element, a bevel pinion carried by' saidlay-shaft and adaptent to engage the other face of said double-facedgear, and a reverse pinion adapted to transmit motion from said clutchgear to the gear on said lay-shaft When these elements are out of enngagement with one another.

In a transmission gearing and, in coinbination, a driven shaft, adouble-faced `bevel gear carried thereby, a second bevel gear mountedco-nceatricaily with said double faced gear., a driving shaft arrangedat rightnngles to said driven shaft, a bevel pinion sleeved upon saiddriving shaft and meshing with one face of said double-faced gear, asecond bevel pinion sleeved upon sait drive shaft and meshing with theother bevel gear, spaced clutch members carried by pinions, a clutchmember carried by said driving shaft having a clutch element lyingbetween said spaced clutch members, where-- by said driving shaft clutchmember nay be moved to selectively engage either of said pinions, alay-shaft mounted parallel with said driving shaft, a gear splined uponsaid lay-shaft` a. gear carried'by said driving shaft and adapted toengage said lay-shaft gear, Yin one position of the latter, and reversegear adapted to be driven from driving shaft and to engage saidlay-slnit 8O gear in a second `position of the latter, and

a bevel pinion carried by said lay-shaft adapted to engage the otherface of double-faced gear.

5. In a transmission gearing and, in coinbination, a driven shaft, adouble faced bevel gear mounted thereon, a second bevel gear mountedconcentrically with said double-faced gear, a drivii'ig shaft arrangedat right-angles to said driven shaft, a. bevel pinion sleeved upon saiddriving shaft and having engagement 'with one face of said, double-facedgear, a second bevel pinion sleeved upon. said driving shaft and havingeivigagement with the other beve. gear, spaced clutch members cari'fiedby said pinions, a clutch .member carried by said driving shaft and.having a clutch element lying between said spaeed clutch members, agear carried by said driving shaft clutch, its a lay-shaft arrangedparallel with said driving shaft,-a gear splined upon said lay-straf anarm mounted to swing on an par with said shafts, a reverse pinion i.,.le by said arm and adapted to engage. the sai clutch gear and saidlay-shaft gear, When the latter are out of engagement 'with each other,a slidable member connected 'with said lay-shaft gear for sl lfting thelatte.T`=` means operable from said sliding mend for swinging 'the .widarm, and a pinion. can ried by said lay-shaft engaging, the other faceof said doublefaced gear.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand this 30th day ofAugust, 1915. A

